The Elevator
by apples-a-day
Summary: Two different takes with Kara's not-a-panic-attack in the CatCo elevator from 3x02. Take One: Lena catches the elevator. Take Two: The mystery of the Supergirl-shaped sunroof on the CatCo elevator.
1. Take One

**Alrighty!**

 **So I have plenty of fics all geared up to update, but then I saw Monday's ep and I got super inspired to write a what-if. Completely based on the fact that Lena could've totally just backtracked, gone to the elevators, and found Kara there, and voila!**

 **This isn't a super long one, but I figured it would be fun to write. Not overly supercorp in the romance sense, but I hope everyone enjoys nonetheless!**

* * *

Lena paused after walking away. She knew it would be tough to be her best friend's boss, but having to be the scathingly strict one was even worse.

She also knew that, despite Kara's insistence otherwise, she was going through plenty of things, and while tough love was sometimes the way to go, she figured that it wouldn't hurt to reassert the fact that at the end of the day, Lena would be there for Kara as her friend.

So she walked back towards Kara's desk, but saw that the other girl was gone. Asking around, Lena found that Kara had last been seen heading to the elevators.

She walked with a purpose, heading towards the elevators, hoping she could catch her friend, and much to her surprise, one of the elevators was still on the level. Pressing the button, Lena wondered if she would see Kara behind the door.

And then the doors opened.

"Kara!" Lena breathed, seeing her friend sitting on the floor, backed up against the wall, clutching the railings like her life depended on it.

A million thoughts were swimming in Lena's head: the Supergirl suit partially showing underneath Kara's dress shirt, the way the handrails were bending under her fingers, but the only thing that was crystal clear in her mind was the fact that Kara was not okay.

She glanced back outside the elevator and saw no one there. A good thing, considering her friend's current state of undress.

"Kara?" she softly asked. She didn't know how to start, how to calm her shaking and breathless. She figured that normal conversation might quell whatever was making her friend act like this. "What floor were you going to?"

It didn't work. Kara mumbled something unintelligibly, and raised a shaking hand to point at the buttons, eyes foggy and seeming as if they were staring at some unknown horror behind Lena's shoulder.

Lena had no idea which button Kara had pointed to, but she slammed the topmost button. She figured Kara would prefer the open air and not a musty elevator.

As the elevator went up, Lena slowly approached her friend. "Kara, can you hear me?"

Yet again, Kara just mumbled something softly.

Lena let out a breath once the elevator let out a ding and opened the doors. She grabbed Kara's glasses and put them in her discarded bag, using the bag to keep the door open, before helping Kara to her feet, and shuffling them out of the elevator, the bag in tow.

She gingerly led them up the stairs, and opened the door to the terrace.

Kara let out a gasp beside her once they were outside, and Lena loosened her grasp on Kara, letting her friend move around freely and get her bearings back.

With a gasp, Kara broke away from her friend in shock, mouth opening and closing as though she were trying to figure out what to say.

"Lena, I-" Kara began to say, seeing that her suit was half-showing, and when she went to touch her glasses, she noticed she was missing them.

Lena shook her head, a small comforting smile on her lips. "It's okay, we can talk about it later."

Kara looked grateful, finishing her changing and then flying around the building for a few laps.

Lena watched in wonder as her friend defied the very laws of physics and zoomed around her.

Once Kara landed again, Lena frowned, gesturing to her friend. "You didn't have to go anywhere?"

"She got away while I was in the elevator," Kara explained sheepishly. "So, that talk?"

"Well, I doubt that this roof is the best place to talk, and seeing as I don't have an office…"

Kara smiled. "I've got that covered."

Before Lena could even react, Kara had scooped her up and, carrying her bridal style, flew off.

In a very uncharacteristic move, Lena let out a surprised squeal and clutched her arms tightly around Kara.

When they landed, Lena found herself in Kara's loft. Kara let Lena stand up and then stood nervously to the side, hands fidgeting.

When Lena didn't immediately start, Kara blurted out, "I'm sorry."

Lena frowned. "For what?"

"I didn't tell you...about this," Kara mumbled, pointing to the symbol on her chest. "It wasn't that I didn't to tell you…"

Lena's brows crinkled in confusion. "Then what was it?"

"I took too long to work up the courage to tell you, and by then I figured that if I told you, you'd be angry, that you'd think I didn't tell you because you're a Luthor or something," Kara explained.

Lena shook her head with a smile. "I'm not angry, Kara. I mean, I am a bit sad that I'm only finding out now, because I found you shaking in an elevator. How long would it have taken if I hadn't?"

Kara shuffled a bit. Not even bringing herself to look at Lena, Kara quietly truthfully said, "I don't know."

Lena nodded once. "Do you trust me, Kara?"

"With my life," Kara responded, not missing a beat.

And Lena believed her. "So then what made you so reluctant?"

Kara bit her lip, taking a moment to formulate her response. "I didn't want things to change between us."

"How would they change?"

"That's the thing, I didn't know. With my friends, I figured they would find out and that would be it. But you, you're...special to me, and we were in a good place, and I didn't want that to change, even if it meant I was keeping such a big part of myself a secret from you."

Lena nodded again, face inscrutable, not saying a word.

When Kara grew nervous with all the silence, she asked timidly, "So, are we good?"

"Of course," Lena reassured her with a smile. Seeing Kara's worried frown, she added, "I didn't meant to create suspense, I was just thinking about how so many things make sense now, like you running out of here so many times today."

Kara nodded sheepishly. "Yeah, sorry about that."

Lena then figured she'd turn to the other topic boggling her. "What did happen in the elevator? Were you having a panic attack?"

Kara scoffed. "No! I don't get panic attacks."

With a hum, Lena left it at that. There was no need to press her if she wasn't ready to talk. "Then?"

And so Kara told her about the newest villain and how she got into people's heads and attacked them via their fears.

By the end of it, the cogs were turning inside Lena's head. "How about I help you and we defeat her, together?"

Kara's grin was blinding. "I'd love nothing more."

* * *

 **And that was that!**

 **I have been mulling on another take, which is that Kara does escape, leaving that nice Supergirl-shaped hole in the elevator. Cue Lena's investigation. If there are people interested, I'll write it.**

 **Otherwise, I'd love to know what you thought, and I'll be updating A Superhero in Her Own Right soon!**


	2. Take Two

**Due to popular demand, here is the second take on how the elevator scene could've panned out!**

 **Not that long of a drabble, but I figured I'd just make this part 2.**

 **Enjoy!**

* * *

Lena Luthor was a woman on a mission.

No, not to take over the world.

She had a Supergirl-shaped sunroof on one of her elevators, and all of Kara's belongings - and clothes - discarded on the floor of said elevator.

The mission?

Find out what the hell happened.

James had been of no help, shrugging and claiming that maybe Supergirl finally was ready to give Kara that exclusive.

 _Oh yes,_ Lena had thought savagely, _an exclusive while naked. Makes perfect sense._

"Maybe Kara and Supergirl are dating?"

She had eventually been left with none other than Eve to help her. Suffice it to say that Lena was feeling an oncoming headache from all the ludicrous suggestions.

"I doubt it," Lena dismissively responded.

"Why?" Eve asked. Then she stage-whispered, "Are you against gay people?"

Lena was sure her eye twitched. "Being bisexual myself, I have no room to be against anything."

Eve nodded demurely. "Right."

"Besides, I don't see my friends as being right for one another."

"Because their personalities don't go well together or because you're crushing on one of them?"

Then again, maybe sometimes Eve was perceptive.

"I-"

Lena's response, or lack thereof, was enough to trigger Eve's barrage of questions.

"Oooh which one? I mean, Supergirl would be great to look at, plus she's Supergirl! But she's off saving the world all the time, so Kara would have that reliable factor. Though her boyfriend left under mysterious circumstances so she's not emotionally available. Did you at least tell your crush how you feel?"

"Eve, relax!" Lena said with a smile. She was a lot livelier than her old assistant, that was for sure. "Right now, I just want to figure out what happened to Kara and why Supergirl practically tore through my elevator to get to her."

It had been easy finding out that it was Kara's stuff left behind. The glasses and he contents of her bag gave her away.

Lena had tried to phone Kara, but her phone was also found in said bag.

What really puzzled her were her clothes left behind. Maybe Eve was right, and they were together.

Nonetheless, she would find out, one way or another.

* * *

It was the middle of the night, and Lena felt like a little kid at Christmas, hiding behind the sofa and waiting to see Santa arrive. Except she was a grown adult waiting for either Supergirl or Kara to show up.

She had left Kara's things on the coffee table of James' desk, and pretended to leave early. She was sure James knew the truth and would text either woman to give them the all clear. Though she had to admit she was pleasantly surprised that he didn't take her things himself.

Lena waited in her car until everyone had left, and then she doubled back and was now currently waiting behind the sofa near the wall.

She heard the doors to the balcony open, and snuck a glance. Supergirl.

Supergirl walked in quietly and began collecting Kara's stuff.

"I believe you have some explaining to do," Lena said as she stood up and gripped the back of the sofa seat, feeling very much like a movie villain that had just cornered the hero.

Supergirl's reaction though, was not what she expected.

The superhero let out a small scream before she jumped up and was floating in the air, dropping everything, fists at the ready. Until she saw who it was that had taken her by surprise.

"Lena! Oh Rao you scared me," Supergirl said with a sigh of relief, floating back down.

"What are you doing here?" Lena asked, crossing her arms.

Supergirl spluttered a bit. "Just- ah, just picking up Kara Danvers' stuff."

Lena nodded once, walking around the sofa. "I can see that. But why?"

"She asked me to," was all she said.

"And pray tell, where did Kara go from here, naked, in the middle of the day?"

That got Supergirl's attempts at a lie to stop.

Lena scoffed. "I thought I could trust you."

"You can!" Supergirl quickly responded.

"Then help me make sense of this!" Lena stated. Then her voice caught as she said, "Help me understand how any of this makes sense."

Supergirl's brows furrowed at how Lena sounded. So she reached for Kara's bag.

Lena let out a nearly silent gasp. She first thought Supergirl would leave without saying a word.

But Supergirl only grabbed Kara's glasses. And then she put them on her face and looked at Lena, meeting her gaze.

And then Lena connected the dots, and her jaw promptly dropped.

"I guess I have a lot of explaining to do, huh?" Supergirl - no, Kara - said with a sheepish smile.

Lena nodded, dumbfounded. "You most certainly do."

* * *

It was the middle of the night, and Lena had raided Cat's old mini-bar with Kara's help, and they were now sitting on one of the couches, the latter dressed as Kara, sans her glasses. Kara had explained everything, and Lena had listened diligently.

They had cleared the air and now both women felt that they were closer than ever before, content and happy.

And for Lena, this simplified and explained so much. Particularly concerning Eve's comments from earlier regarding her crush. But not now.

Now they were just two slightly drunk best friends - Lena more so than Kara - giggling about the many times that Kara had evaded Lena in order to hide her identity.

* * *

 **I kept the whole 'why did you keep the truth from me' schpiel as a summary because if I had to write it one more time, I'd go stir crazy.**

 **Also, I am fully expecting a Supergirl-sized sunroof to now be promptly featured in the next ep.**

 **Anyway, I hope everyone found this enjoyable! I'll be writing more drabbles as the sg writers keep screwing things up. And of course, full-length fics. Stay tuned!**

 **Don't be shy, and let me know what you thought!**


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